Massive pat on the back for the Met Office, and, may I say, the models, which correctly picked this "storm" out very very early - before it had been formed.
Even GFS and NAVGEM had progged it at times, but particularly impressed with GFS, which really had the storm nailed on from way out.
OK, so the track and the strength was overplayed and underplayed at times, but there is no dobt this WAS a storm, albeit (and thankfully) not as severe as some of the models progged it to be.
However, in terms of model forecasting, this is a big winner in my view - one of the best predictions a week or more out that I have ever seen....
Met Office were not caught up in the ridiculous media hype that surrounded it, and quite frankly, as per usual, some of the media outlets should be ashamed of themselves for hyping it as something akin to 1987, which it NEVER looked likely to be.
Very tragic that there were some fatalities of course it is, but also, I must say, for once, I believe the authorities did the right thing in preparing in advance (thanks in no small part to the Met Office's performance), that doubtless prevented more casualties.
The thought of a tree falling onto a train, rather than just onto an empty track, filled me with dread.
So a big thumbs up all round from me....and though of course very tragic with the 4 deaths, it could have been a whole lot worse.....
Witney, Oxfordshire
100m ASL